tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7440535585058130391.post2037948234119395018..comments2015-12-02T08:49:25.120-05:00Comments on OceanicDreams: Feeding Sharks - a Battlefield of Opinions. Finally a Voice of Reason and Authority...Felix Leandernoreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7440535585058130391.post-81661310937096445112009-04-11T19:02:00.000-04:002009-04-11T19:02:00.000-04:00I have worked with Doc for about 10 years (that's ...I have worked with Doc for about 10 years (that's my photo of him leading the lemon). I also worked with Luke Tipple briefly in Honduras. Luke is young and while his zeal is admirable, there are some flaws in his journal. The numbers bandied about in the articles mentioned are reports from fisheries. These reports are notorious for under-reporting actual catch. Legal fishing also only accounts for a portion of sharks taken and many times do not account for bycatch and the biggest foe to shark populations - illegal fishing. The statistics involved showed the actual number to be somewhere between 10 and 73 million sharks - that's a wide range and indicates a lot of error inherent in the methodology. I believe, as most shark biologists do, that the true number is close to 100 million a year and that has widely been accepted. Shark fisheries have been expanding and I think as far as we can try to estimate a problem with so many unknown variables, Doc's accepted estimate is much more accurate than the literature mentioned in Luke's article. I do commend Luke for being brave and trying to refute that number - after all that is what science is all about. A deeper look at the actual literature and you will see it is mostly statistics that i believe falls far from the mark of describing actual events in the outside world. <BR/> cheers.... - MDPshark8matthttp://openid.aol.com/shark8mattnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7440535585058130391.post-55002585051690301142009-02-17T16:42:00.000-05:002009-02-17T16:42:00.000-05:00And Luke Tipple worked with Discovery Shark Week o...And Luke Tipple worked with Discovery Shark Week on the Myth Buster segment - enough said with that...Felix Leanderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17124257574347025140noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7440535585058130391.post-79289865665036681012009-02-17T16:33:00.000-05:002009-02-17T16:33:00.000-05:00Hi Bitey - the estimates in the the article in the...Hi Bitey - the estimates in the the article in the link you mention are from reports published 3 years ago. The number since then has more then likely increased. I also think the exact number will always be a debate and in the end is not really the issue - the point is that too many sharks are being killedFelix Leanderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17124257574347025140noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7440535585058130391.post-34558566976557300742009-02-17T15:00:00.000-05:002009-02-17T15:00:00.000-05:00"[...] the approximately 100 million killed annual..."[...] the approximately 100 million killed annually [...]"<BR/><BR/>I just finished reading this:<BR/>http://www.luketipple.com/journal/?p=178<BR/>- which prompts me to ask the honorable and venerable Dr. Gruber - where do you get your number? I have great respect and admiration for him, so I'm very interested to know.the One called "Bitey"....http://www.blogger.com/profile/11303406160882783253noreply@blogger.com